(Chief Whitepath and Fly Smith), (sculpture).

(Chief Whitepath and Fly Smith), (sculpture).

Shields, Steve, sculptor.

(Chief Whitepath and Fly Smith), (sculpture).

1988. Dedicated 1989.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: copper or bronze; Base: stone.

2 figures. Each figure: approx. 18 x 24 x 20 in.; Base: approx. 43 x 90 x 72 in.

The sculpture consists of two figures meant to represent Cherokee elders, Chief Whitepath and Chief Fly Smith, and marks the grave site of these two Native Americans who died during the Trail of Tears in the winter of 1838-1839. One figure stands on a boulder looking up toward the sky with his hands slightly raised at each side and palms facing up. He wears a head covering, a coat tied around his waist with a cloth and knee-high deerskin boots. The second figure stands on the ground before the boulder with head bowed. He wears a cloth wrapped around his head. He appears thin and fragile, and closes his coat over his chest with his proper left hand. With his proper right hand he holds a staff, the bottom of which rests on the ground between his feet. There is a flower garden between the two figures.

Homage -- Whitepath, Chief

Homage -- Fly Smith, Chief

Figure male -- Full length

Ethnic -- Indian -- Cherokee

Outdoor Sculpture -- Kentucky -- Hopkinsville

Administered by Trail of Tears Commission, P. O. Box 4027, Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42241

Located Trail of Tears Commemorative Park, Trail of Tears Drive, Hopkinsville, Kentucky

The sculpture marks the graves of Chief Whitepath and Chief Fly Smith, two Cherokees who died during the Trail of Tears in the winter of 1838-1839. Whitepath, who was nearly eighty, and Fly Smith, also elderly, died in what is now Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and were buried there, side by side on the east bank of the east fork of the Little River. Their graves were accidentally rediscovered in 1954, and in the 1980s Beverly Baker of Hopkinsville organized a community effort to build the Trail of Tears Commemorative Park at the site as a memorial.

The artist modeled the figures after two living Cherokee elders. William Lossie, an elder of the Eastern Band based in Cherokee, North Carolina, was the model for Whitepath. Richard "Geet" Crowe was the model for Fly Smith. The park and sculpture were dedicated in 1989 with representatives of the Cherokees present. Nearby plaque reads: Presented October 4, 1988/to the people of/Kentucky/by the/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians/and the/Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma/in appreciation of their remembrance/of the 150th anniversary of the/tragic "Trail of Tears"/1838 1988. SOS! survey reports sculpture medium as copper, but a Hopkinsville brochure lists medium as bronze. IAS files contain an excerpt from Kentucky Living (Sept. 1993): pg. 10; an article from The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), April 17, 1994; a Trail of Tears Commemorative Park brochure, and a photocopy of a Hopkinsville brochure.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Kentucky survey, 1995.

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), April 17, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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